Suttons Motors Group Privacy Policy

Please visit www.suttons.com.au to see the entities that collectively form the Suttons Motors Group and to which this Privacy Policy applies to.

The Suttons Motors Group Respects your Privacy

The Suttons Motors Group (Suttons) has developed this privacy policy to assure you that we are committed to protecting your personal information and to responsible privacy practices. Suttons is required to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (as amended) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) which provide for the fair handling of personal information, and sets standards for the way we collect, use, disclose, secure and provide access to personal information.

Our policy for dealing with any of your personal information held by us is explained below.

About this privacy policy

This privacy policy outlines how we manage your personal information. It also describes generally the sorts of personal information held and for what purposes, and how that information is collected, held, used and disclosed.

This privacy policy applies to all your dealings with us whether using the Suttons website (www.suttons.com.au) or any other website associated with Suttons, in writing or in person. By dealing with Suttons, you consent to our use and disclosure of your personal information in the manner described in this privacy policy. We encourage you to check our website regularly for any updates to our privacy policy.

Collection of personal information

The type of personal information we collect depends on the nature of your dealings with us and the reason for collecting it.

We may collect personal information if you:

purchase a new or used motor vehicle from us;

complete and submit a form through our website;

apply for finance through us;

are one of our suppliers;

are a subscriber to our mailing list or newsletter; or

submit a job application.

The types of personal information that we may collect and hold for our activities includes, without limitation:

an individual's name;

date of birth;

physical or postal addresses;

email addresses;

telephone and fax numbers;

driver's licence details;

vehicle details;

credit card details or bank account information;

occupation;

salary and personal finances (for loan applications);

health information (for life or disability insurance);

details of current or previous insurance (for motor insurance).

If you purchase a motor vehicle from us, we will collect your name, date of birth, contact details, drivers licence details and any other information we may require.

If you are one of our suppliers or contractors or one of their employees, we may collect your name, contact details and position in the organisation.

If you apply for a job with us, you may provide us with certain information, including your name, employment and educational background, and other personal information which we may require you to provide, or which you choose to provide us, in relation to your job application.

If you are a subscriber to our mailing list or newsletter, or attended an event organised by Suttons, we may collect your name, contact details, job title, areas of interest and details of your dealings with us.

Generally Suttons does not collect sensitive information about you, such as health records, unless it is reasonably necessary for the purpose of providing you with a specific product or service or is otherwise permitted by law.

You can browse through our websites, including searching for a vehicle, without registering any of your personal information. Our websites collect personal information about you only when you complete a form on our websites and send it to us.

How do we collect personal information?

Suttons may collect personal information from you in a variety of ways including, without limitation:

on vehicle purchase contracts,

questionnaires,

through our website,

over the telephone; or

during person-to-person contact.

The collection will be done by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. We will collect information directly from an individual wherever possible. If this is not possible, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the individual is made aware of the information being collected is outlined in the collection statement.

If the information we request for the provision of products or services is not provided to us, then this may affect our ability to provide those products or services to you.

How does our website collect personal information?

When you visit our website, our server logs the following information provided by your browser (which does not personally identify you):

the type of browser and operating system you are using the previous site that you visited

your server's IP address (a number which is unique to the machine through which you are connected to the Internet: usually one of your service provider's machines).

Our server logs the date and time of your visit, which pages of our website you visited and any documents you downloaded.

Our server might use a feature of your browser called a “cookie” to assign a user ID. A cookie is a small piece of text that is placed within the memory of a computer and can be later retrieved by web page servers. Cookies identify your computer to our server when you visit our site. We only use cookies to store the sites or databases that a user has selected. Cookies are not used for any other purpose. You do not need to have configured your browser to enable the accepting or sending of cookies in order to use this site. Cookies are used to enhance your interaction and convenience in using our website and we do not use cookies to record any of your personal information. Cookies may record information about your visit, including the type of browser and operating system you use, the previous site you visited, your server’s IP address, the pages you access and the information downloaded by you. We only use the information collected by our server to generate statistics and analyse site activity and at no time can we personally identify you as the source of that data.

In addition to cookies, this website uses Google Analytics software (or cookies) and may feature Google Remarketing cookies to collect website usage data. We collect this data to measure things like how you found our website, how long you stayed, what you looked at and many other things. This information is collected so that we can make informed decisions on how to improve your future experience with our website. Furthermore, we use this information to select online advertisements that are likely to be more relevant and helpful for you, our website visitor. Third-party vendors, including Google, show our online advertisements on various websites across the Internet and use cookies to serve ads based on someone's past visits to your website. If you are at all concerned, you may opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting the Ads Preferences Manager. All of this activity is common web practice and falls within the bounds of the Google Analytics Terms of Service.

Why do we collect and use your personal information?

Suttons will only collect personal information in connection with the provision of products and services provided by Suttons, our website or other business activities of Suttons.

We collect personal information only to the extent that this is necessary for one or more of our following activities:

relevant to our business relationship with you;

selling you a new or used motor vehicle and registering that vehicle in the name provided by you. We are required by law to provide certain information to the relevant licensing authorities and motor registries;

sale of products and services to you through our website;

completing an application for the provision of financing facilities relating to the purchase of a new or used motor vehicle. The information requested is the minimum required by the finance providers;

completing an application for the provision of insurance cover;

providing after-sales service for your vehicle;

to offer you new products and services that we believe may interest you;

market research in relation to the products and services that we offer; and

to satisfy any legal requirements.

Generally, the purpose for which Suttons collects personal information will be apparent from the way in which we collect it, or will be disclosed at the time of collection. If at any time the purpose for which we are collecting your personal information is unclear, please raise your concerns with the person you are dealing with or contact us using the contact details below.

We will reply to your email address for the purpose for which you provide it.

We may also use your email address to respond to feedback given about our website, and to confirm receipt of emails sent to us.

When do we disclose your personal information?

Suttons discloses your personal information to related entities of Suttons or third party service providers and contractors who assist in our internal business and administrative operations. When we engage the services of a third party, we take reasonable steps to ensure they comply with the Privacy Act and maintain the confidentiality of any personal information to which they have access.

Suttons may disclose your personal information to the vehicle manufacturers, distributors and financiers for the purposes of supplying products and services that you request and contacting you for promotional, safety, market research purposes and other matters relating to the motor vehicle and you. The manufacturer, distributor and financier may disclose your personal information to certain organisations, such as marketing and research companies and other contractors for the purposes outlined above. Please visit www.suttons.com.au to view the privacy policies of the manufacturers we are associated with.

We may disclose your personal information to fulfil legal requirements, such as disclosure to law enforcement agencies or the courts.

With your consent, we do allow your personal information to be provided to select organisations that perform certain functions or operations for us. We bind these companies to the same standard of care as we do ourselves.

We will not provide your personal information to any other organisation for marketing purposes without your consent and will not share, sell or trade your personal information to non-related companies or persons.

Will we disclose your personal information overseas?

Suttons does not ordinarily disclose your personal information overseas. However there may be circumstances where we need to disclose your personal information to a third party and this third party may disclose your personal information overseas. This may occur, for example where we have to send your personal information to the manufacturers, distributors and or financiers and they will on-send that information to their overseas headquarters or related companies.

APP 8.1 requires that we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the third party recipient of your information complies with the APPs (other than APP 1) in relation to your personal information, or that the third party recipient is bound by laws that offer you at least as much protection as the APPs and that you are able to enforce your rights under those international laws in the event of any breach.

How do we ensure your personal information is correct?

We will endeavour to ensure that the personal information we collect and hold about you is complete, accurate and up to date. We use technology, documented procedures and internal review processes to assist in this process. To assist, please contact us at privacy@suttons.com.au if any of the details you have provided are incorrect or have changed.

Security of your personal information

Suttons is committed to keeping your personal information secure.

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information that we hold from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

When using our website, you should be aware that no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as totally secure. Although we strive to protect such information, we do not warrant the security of any information that you transmit to us over the internet and you do so at your own risk. Suttons does not accept responsibility for the security of information transmitted to us over the internet.

Our website may contain links or plug-ins to other sites. We are not responsible for the content of or the practices or policies of, those sites.

Your credit card details will not be stored after the completion of the transaction. We will destroy or permanently de-identify all other personal information no longer needed for any purpose in accordance with the APPs.

Any personal information you provide to purchase merchandise on-line, including credit card details will be protected by 128 bit Encryption Security provided by a Thawte SuperCert.

To view this site securely, you need a browser that supports the SSL security protocol. These browsers will indicate whether or not the site is secure by displaying a symbol such as a key or lock, to show you are in secure mode; if not, a warning will appear when you are about to send information not in secure mode.

How can you access and correct your personal information?

You have the right to access your personal information held by Suttons. You can also make a request for us to correct any inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date personal information.

For security reasons, a written request may be required to access your information as well as providing proof of your identity.

We are committed to granting you access to your personal information within a reasonable time frame. We will not refuse you access unless there are legal reasons for doing so. In such circumstances, we will explain those reasons to you. This may be necessary so that Suttons can ensure that your personal information is not disclosed to any other person.

If you consider that the personal information that we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up to date then we ask that you provide to us in writing with the correct information so the personal information held about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

There will generally be no charge for access to and supply of personal information. However, in cases where information has to be retrieved from archives or where large volumes of information has been requested, a reasonable fee might be charged to cover any costs incurred by Suttons.

Links to Other Sites

Our website links to websites of third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those parties.

How do we deal with privacy complaints?

Your privacy is important to Suttons and we will make every effort to resolve your concerns. To assist us in helping you, we ask you to follow a simple three-step process.

Gather all supporting documents about the matter of complaint, think about the questions you want answered and decide on what you want us to do.

Telephone us on +61 2 9357 1777, and we will review your situation and if possible, resolve it straight away.

If you are not satisfied with our response, we may require you to submit your complaint in writing by email at privacy@suttons.com.au with your contact details or via mail to:

The Privacy Officer

Mr Robin Blackburn

Suttons Motors Group

Level 1, 134 William Street, Potts Point NSW 2011

We will then investigate your complaint and endeavour to respond to you in writing within 30 days of receipt of your written complaint.

If at this stage the matter has not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can telephone the Australian Information Commissioner's hotline on 1300 363 992 or, if calling from outside Australia, + 61 2 9284 9749.

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy policy will be reviewed and updated by Suttons from time to time. Updated versions of this policy will be published on this website.

The updated privacy policy will apply whether or not specific notice of any change has been given.